Hello from Holland

Hi all!

I've lurked about for a few days and decided it was time I joined! I am a model railroader from the Netherlands, and I work in 0 Scale to both American (1:48) and British (1:43.5 aka 7mm) scales. I know most folks here work in live steam and all, but I am an avid scratchbuilder and machinist, and I think many of my machining projects and questions can best be fielded here. I own an older Emco Unimat as my current lathe, and while I do have the milling column for it, I do not like it much. I want to get a proper mill too. I do have a background in automotive machining, working in an engine machine shop for a few years out of high school, but it's been a while... a couple measley decades.

Anyway, hi!

Amanda

Hi Amanda, welcome to the forum.

Lots of interest in scratch building, machining and other technologies here, so ask away.

If you want to share photographs, the help is here.

By coincidence my interest in Military Engineering currently has me exploring the Netherlands with ACME Mapper looking for the remains of Star Fortifications, like this example:

Dave

Welcome to the forum

H

Hi Amanda welcome to the forum. I have a background in toolmaking till I retired and started making a model lathe from a kit but made it a working model at the same time with a few additions. Then got into making a few stationary steam engine and then someone bought me a lesson of jewellery making for a present and now have made a few pieces. You never know where machining and modeling metal and other materials will get you. Ask away on here and someone will help but dont forget to look at the archives as well.

David

Welcome!

You are in good company here!

Our machine vary in size from Adepts upto industrial machines, with experiences and interests to match!

I have an interest, very much dormant now, in US railroads and their HO scale models.

My background is very much engine manufacture and development, with a long gap between 1st year training and acquiring a lathe. In retirement, Model Engineering is the major hobby, although not really a model maker, very much tools and gadgets..

Howard

Hi and welcome,

I am not very long on this forum, I think you will find some useful information here. I am an electrical engineer, but I had proper mechanical education, from filing to lathe work, gas and electrical welding, galvanising, iron and aluminium foundry.
I am also in 7mm scale model railway, being responsible for one of our club layouts. And there are many things you will need a proper workshop for.
I am born in Austria, but worked 11 years in Italy and now 12 years in the UK. And that's it. I am not moving anywhere else.
By the way I started with model engineering on my fathers old EMCO unimat, when I was working I could afford a bigger machine (EMCO compact 5) which I just sold a year ago - means I had it for almost 40 years.

looking forward to your projects!

Gerhard

Hallo Amanda and welcome.

I work in bigger sizes of model but I have a friend who does English '0' gauge. Roughly whereabouts are you in the Netherlands? I'm visiting Schagen in the North later in the year and I also booked on a canal and river cruise from Nijmegan to the Floriade show.

If you have any questions you have only to ask them on here.

Brian (almost in the very middle of England)

Hi folks.

Seems a lot of us have moved around. I am from Ohio, originally, right up in the northeast in the heart of the Rust Belt. I moved to the Netherlands almost 9 years ago now to be with my husband, and have retained my interest in machining and trains the whole time! I live in the very southern tippy bit of the Netherlands, quite near Aachen in Germany. My interests naturally are in railways of northern Ohio and Northwestern Pennsylvania; the Erie, New York Central, and Nickel Plate chief among them. My first goal for the new lathe (and mill) is to make up a set of driving wheels to build a Erie or Nickel Plate mikado; not sure which yet, but either way it's 63 inches.

I love my Unimat. I hope to get a compact 5 and perhaps use that as my mill, but we shall see what the fates decide!

Amanda

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Hi hi,

The mike will be small by you folks' standards! US 0 gauge, so only 1:48. I do not have the facilities to move to bigger stuff just now. Someday perhaps! The Big Boy is massive. I cannot imagine a 7 1/4 inch one. That had to weigh tons!

Manda

Welcome to the party Amanda ! Though it seems to not be very active are you aware of Stoom Groep Holland ? covers a wide range of interests and no doubt your Nederlands is far better than mine. Best wishes Noel.

Welcome Amanda! It must've been quite the change moving from the rust belt to little old Holland. How do you feel about the Dutch trains? A friend of my partner's got very excited about the double-layered ones apparantly.

Hi hi. It's quite a change!

I did not know about Stoom Groep Holland! A local club or association would be nice, though I suspect in my case the closest would be in the Aachen area in Germany. I do like the trains here! Public transport is just not a thing in most (virtually all) of the US. I haven't had a car here in 8 years, as I haven't needed one!

To someone from the snow belt of Ohio though... it's funny how like an inch of snow stops trains running here!

Amanda

Not looked at the map but Tilburg shouldn't be to far off, there is a club there. Best wishes Noel.

Hallo Manda,

Kilometers (miles) are shorter in Holland than in the US! This makes our country so large! 😉

Therefore, Tilburg is far away from Heerlen.

Be carefull with trains and snow. Even autumn leaves on the tracks cause problems with accelerating and braking.

But be aware of the frequency of trains. One delaying train may influence many others, not being on time anymore.

By the way, on Markplaats Emco Compact 5 lathes are regularly offered.

I suppose your lathe is an Emco Unimat 3?

Regards,

Jouke

Edited By Jouke van der Veen on 02/02/2022 20:47:39

Hallo Jouke,

I do love the train system here. It is so nice to not *need* a car. I am not crazy about driving, so not needing to too much is great. My lathe is a very old Unimat SL, in the wooden crate and everything. I like it a lot, but I may use it as a mill and get a Compact 5, or another Unimat, depending what turns up. I like this little lathe a lot. Plenty big enough for the small (by comparison to the rest of folks here, eep) 0 or possibly 1 gauge stuff I will do.

I got my current lathe from Marktplaats. I will save my pennies and look for another - or like you said a bigger lathe like a Compact 5.

MVG!

Amanda

Hi Manda

The Emco 5 lathe can have the series 5 milling column attached to the lathe bed to enable milling in a vice or Tee slotted plate attached to the cross slide, bit limited to travel in the X direction but not in the Z axis.
Not ideal as it is on a round column as is your SL but with forward planning very useful for making small parts.

Emgee

Hi Emgee,

Good to know. I am eyeballing a 5 as my permanent lathe, and I could use the Unimat as my mill. I only mill thin sheet brass or nickel silver, so the unimat is plenty adequate for that. For turning steel main driver tires, I could use the bit more oomph of the Compact 5.

Hallo Manda,

just saw your Post. I live 5 miles west of Cleveland Hopkins Airport (northeast Ohio) - I was outside clearing my driveway of 8 inches of snow from last night.

I was just old enough to see the last of the Nickel Plate Berkshires work. My Dad would take us to the Nickel Plate and the old B&O to watch the trains.

Bruce

Hi Amanda,

I just sold my compact 5 ( well - a year ago) and went for a Chineese lathe, 8 inch.

It is much more sturdy and stable. And it is more precise. The compact 5 is too light to give you proper results. You constantly fight with vibration problems. So my advice is: do not spend a lot of money for a machine with a good name but find yourself an up to date model from a decent chineese manufacturer. I loved my compact 5, also I am Austrian, so there was a bit of patriotism with it, but the Chineese one is much better. And I think the same is valid for Myford. I know half of the forum will kill me now, but you pay for a name which was great some 50 years ago. You want precision and low maintenance. So no white metal bearings but roller bearings. And look for a variable speed drive with a brushless motor. High torque from low speeds, good efficiency. The vertical unit of the compact 5 was rubbish. Much too weak and not precise. Go for a seperate mill, like for instance a Sieg SX2 (brushless motor, variable speed drive) or bigger. I found a mill with a slight damage which didn't have any influence to its functionality or precision, but I paid a lot less. Bargins are out there, you just need to be lucky to grab one.

All the best

Gerhard